Scorsese successful with imaginative and family-friendly ‘Hugo’

In the labyrinth of gears and levers that comprise the 1930s Parisian train station where “Hugo” takes place, the stalled ignition of the movie’s first gear is the only malfunction. “Hugo”

Starring: Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen

Directed by Martin Scorsese

Grade: A-

In the labyrinth of gears and levers that comprise the 1930s Parisian train station where “Hugo” takes place, the stalled ignition of the movie’s first gear is the only malfunction.

The movie follows a young orphan named Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) who manually fixes the hundreds of clocks within the train station. Naturally inquisitive, Hugo spends his free time trying to fix the mysterious, human-like machine left to him by his late father (Jude Law), hoping its rebuilding will reveal a secret message from him.

Stealing his meals from shopping carts and hunting for spare parts, Hugo carefully avoids the detection of the notorious orphan-catching station inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) and his menacing mutt. Eventually, Hugo befriends the adventurous, adolescent Isabelle (Chloë Grace Moretz) who strangely possesses the heart-shaped key needed for the ignition of his father’s machine.

The imaginative film serves both as a children’s tale and a reminder for adults that creativity doesn’t necessarily diminish with age. It is a rare breed of family film where both parents and children leave the theater feeling the movie spoke directly to them.

The happy, uplifting message throughout the movie makes the viewer suspect an error with the listing of Martin Scorsese as the director — a man famed for his family-unfriendly films like “The Departed” and “Taxi Driver.”

But in this movie, strong, universal themes of individual importance do not veer too far into sappy, melodramatic territory. Hugo’s quest, based on his notion that each person has a purpose to serve, is paired nicely with the many parts required for nearly all of the film’s major objects. Scorsese’s exploration into a starkly different genre only augments his legend by avoiding a detraction from prior successes with a late-career blunder.

Mixing the fiction with history, Scorsese evenly blends the two in “Hugo” by drawing on the imaginative life of Georges Méliès. The eccentric career of the early filmmaker leads to smooth transition between fantasy and reality.

However, the film does suffer from its opening sequence, which fails to capture the audience’s attention after the first few minutes of intrigue into Hugo’s routine. Too much time is spent navigating the back rooms of the train station and adjusting clocks without building a larger context. Once a plot appears, it remains captivating for the entire film.

Although the action primarily involves the two children, Ben Kingsley’s splendid performance as the sour and aged Georges Méliès carries the film. The contrast between the character’s Willy Wonka-like enthusiasm, witnessed in flashbacks, and the reality-eroded, unimaginative present version showcases Kingsley’s talent as an actor. His genuine warmth is portrayed through Georges’ transformation, and his connection with Hugo propels the movie above just an average family film.

The film’s true service is the homage it bestows on the innovators and magicians who slowly transformed the motion picture from a novelty to an art form. Scorsese beautifully transposes images and stories from early silent movies with the stunning 3-D technology of the present. The continued enjoyment from these tales despite the near-century gap from their original inception cements the timelessness of the early cinema.

“Hugo” preaches that every part has a purpose. This film’s purpose is to inspire the next generation of filmmakers by reminding them that film truly is a magic trick.